Portable auxiliary lock



June 24, 1969 R. l. N. WEINGART PORTABLE AUXILIARY LOCK Filed June 13,1967 FIG. 2

FIG.\

1'4 INVENTOR.

JOHN P. CHANDLER HIS ATTORNEY.

United States Patent 3,451,235 PORTABLE AUXILIARY LOCK Richard I. N.Weingart, P.O. Box 1526, Nassau, Bahamas Continuation-impart ofapplications Ser. No. 552,553,

May 24, 1966. and Ser. No. 615,650, Feb. 13, 1967.

This application June 13, 1967, Ser. No. 645,778

Int. Cl. Eb 73/00 US. Cl. 7014 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Alock having a locking bar with spaced slots extending over a portion ofits length and an abutment to be inserted behind a portion of one of themembers to be locked, and a guard plate which has an opening to receivethe bar, and be secured thereto, the plate engaging the outside of themembers, and a locking plate, carried in sliding relation, by the guardplate, and with a finger which engages one of said slots to lock theplate to the locking bar.

The present application constitutes a continuation-inpart of my twoearlier applications, Ser. Nos. 552,553 and 615,651.

This invention relates to portable locks, primarily for travel purposes,for closet, desk and dresser drawers in hotel rooms, and for a varietyof other purposes and which employs a padlock for the locking element.The lock of the present invention may also be used as a supplementedlock for an apartment house door in place of chain locks which are nottoo satisfactory. The device of the present invention employs anelongated locking bar with a hook shaped abutment at one end which isinserted in a strike plate opening in a door frame and extends forwardlythrough the space between the door and frame, the locking bar havingspaced slots extending over a portion of its length, one of which isengaged by a locking finger on a locking plate which holds the membersin locked relation. This locking plate is mounted in sliding relation toa second or guard plate having an opening to receive the locking bar insnug but free sliding relation. Both the locking plate and guard platehave aperture'd lugs which overlie each other when the plates are incoincidence and the fringe secures the bar to the plates. A lockingdevice such as a padlock, where shackle passes through the apertures inthe lugs, secures the parts in locked relation.

In my earlier applications above referred to, the looking bar wasprovided with teeth or notches extending along one or both longitudinaledges, the teeth being engaged by opposed edges of a slot formed in thelocking plate, thus securing the locking plate and its related guardplate against movement on the locking bar.

The improved lock of the present invention employs a locking bar Withspaced transverse abutments which may be conveniently formed as throughslots in side-by-side relation longitudinally of the bar, one of whichreceives a projection formed on or carried by the locking plate. Thelocking plate may thus have an opening of special configuration formedtherein by punching or otherwise and leaving a projecting finger andsufiicient space beyond the free end of the finger for the locking barto pass therethrough.

This provides an exceedingly simple construction wherein close-fittolerances are easier to meet and the dies required for stamping out theplates are inexpensive to construct.

In addition to the improved locking bar of the present application, theguard plate with its opening to receive the locking bar is also improvedby extending this openice ing clear to the edge to make it far easier toslide the guard plate, from the side, onto the locking bar. The lockingplate has a similar side opening and they both are aligned when theplates are applied to the bar.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a broken horizontal section taken from a door and frame, andshowing the lock of the present invention with the parts in lockedposition;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation thereof;

FIG. 3 is an elevation of the rear face of the locking assembly;

FIG. 4 is a section on line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but shows the locking plate inextended position;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the locking bar.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 3 but showing a modification whereinthe plates have openings for the locking bar, these openings extendingclear to the edge.

The lock of the present invention includes a flat hook bar 10, a guardplate 11 having a rectangular opening 12 to receive the bar in snug butfree sliding relation and a locking plate 14 carried by the guard platein free sliding, face-to-face relation. The hook bar has a laterallyextending hook-like abutment 16 at its inner end which is received in anopening 18 in a strike plate 19 in a fixed door frame 20. This doorframe has an opening 21 which is generally aligned with opening 18 andnormally receives a spring-urged latch bolt extending from a lock (notshown) in a door 22. There is normally a slight space or clearance shownat 24 between a hinged door and door frame which is sufficient toreceive the thin fiat locking bar. The guard plate 11 is positionednormal to the major axis of the locking bar at all times and the lockingplate is mounted in sliding face-to-face relation to the guard plate andhas a locking finger 26 which passes into one of a plurality ofgenerally rectangular slots 28 extending over the major portion of thelength of the locking bar. The opposed vertical edges of each slot 28are regarded herein essentially as abutments and the finger 26 as afixed stop, engaging one of the abutments to restrain movement of thelocking plate relative to the locking bar.

In the arrangement shown, the guard plate component referred to in theclaims as a guard plate structure, is

essentially two plates with a cavity therebetween in which lockingplates slide. Thus it includes an outer wall 29 and an inner wall 30,and can be stamped out from a single piece of sheet metal, the platewalls are joined together in spaced relation along their lower edges bya short lower wall 31 to form a narrow longitudinal cavity 32 to receivethe locking plate in sliding relation therebetween. At its upper edge,wall 29 is joined to wall 30 by an overturned edge 34 and the meetingfaces secured together as by welding or brazing.

The plate structure 11 with its spaced inner and outer walls with a longcavity 32 therebetween to receive the locking plate 14 in slidingrelation, is termed a guard plate because one of its walls, i.e., itsinner wall 30, together with flange 34, engages the door frame 20 andthe door 22, with the locking bar and its hook 16 securely holding theassembly against both door and frame and acts as a guard or stop toprevent the door from opening.

The inner wall 30 has an opening 36 identical with and aligned withopening 12 in outer wall 29, and the latter has a struck out sectionwhich is bent forwardly, i.e., towards the operator, at right angles tothe wall, to form a locking lug 38 with a hole 39. The locking plate hasa similar struck out section 40 which is bent forwardly and overlies lug38 when the plates are in coincidence and in this position the holesalso are in coincidence and receive the shackle 41 of a simple padlock42. In this way, no metal need be removed to form the lugs except thatwhich is punched out to form holes 39.

The locking finger 26 is also formed by a punching operation but in thisinstance enough metal is removed to form a hole 44 in the locking plate,deep enough to receive the locking bar in vertical position and wideenough to enable the plate to move from the position of FIG. 3 where thefinger is in one of the slots 28 where it performs its secure lockingfunction, to the position of FIG. 5, where the finger is away from thelocking bar and the latter is free to move in slot 12. The locking plateis moved by grasping lug 40 and moving it to the right, when viewed asin FIG. 5, until vertical edge 46 contacts a pin 48 passing through theinner and outer walls of the guard plates. This pin limits travel of thelocking plate to the right and travel to the left is stopped when flange43 of lug 40 contacts edge 49 of wall 11.

To apply the lock, locking bar 10 is positioned between door and frameas in FIG. 1 and the locking plate moved to the right as in FIG. 5 toopen the passages in the guard and locking plate assembly for freesliding horizontal movement of the locking bar thereon. When theassembly contacts the door and frame as in FIG. 1, the locking plate ismoved to the left to put the plates and lugs in coincidence and thepadlock applied.

A slight modification is shown in FIG. 7 wherein even this horizontalmovement is eliminated. The front and rear walls of the guard plate havealigned slots shown at 50 which are continuations of the opposedvertical edges of opening 12 shown in FIG. 2. The locking plate also hasa slot 51 whose left hand edge is a continuation of edge 45 forming partof opening 44. When the locking plate is moved to the left, and the twoplates are, therefore, out of coincidence, slots 50 and 51 are incoincidence and it is simply necessary only to move the plate assemblyagainst the door and frame (the position of FIG. 1, but above thelocking bar) and then move it downward about /2 inch, slide the platesinto coincidence, and apply the lock.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A portable auxiliary locking device for doors, drawers and the likewhich are mounted in frames and including an elongated thin hook barprovided at its inner end with a laterally offset portion forming a hookto be received in an opening in one of the members to be locked relativeto the other, said hook bar also provided with a plurality of spacedabutments disposed longitudinally of the bar, a guard plate structurecarried on and perpendicular to said hook bar and comprising inner andouter plates and means for maintaining said plates in spaced relation toform a slideway therebetween, said plates hav- 4- ing aligned openingsshaped to receive the hook bar in close fitting but free slidingrelation, and means for securing the guard plate structure in lockedrelation to the bar, said means including a locking plate mounted forfree-sliding limited movement in said slideway, said locking platehaving a projection which, in a first position of said plate, engagesone of said abutments and locks said plate and bar against relativemovement and which in a second position permits free relative movement,and means for securing the locking plate in said first position.

2. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein the hook bar is formed witha plurality of through slots extending transversely thereof and whoseopposed edges form said abutments.

3. Thestructure recited in claim 2 wherein the locking plate has anopening of special configuration providing a finger-like element formingthe projection which passes through one of said slots whose edges engagethe finger.

4. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein overlaying apertured lugsextend from one side of the locking plate and the guard plate structure,and locking means, for securing the plates in said first position,extending through the apertures therein.

5. The structure recited in claim 4 wherein the locking means is apadlock.

6. The structure recited in claim 1 wherein the plates are substantiallyin coincidence when they are in said first position and the lockingplate has been moved out of coincidence when they are in said secondposition.

7. The structure recited in claim 6 wherein the openings in the guardplate structure extend clear to one edge of said structure, forming aside opening and wherein the locking plate has an opening coincidingtherewith when the plates are in said second position, thus forming asecond side opening, so as to permit the plates to be applied to thelocking bar by moving the latter through said side openings.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 584,677 6/1897 Doyle 2922923,039,806 6/1962 Rice 292--293 3,262,292 7/1966 Glass l4 RICHARD E.MOORE, Primary Examiner.

E. J. MCCARTHY, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 292-292

